Browne C. Lewis
Leon and Gloria Plevin Professor of Law
Director, Center for Health Law & Policy
Cleveland-Marshall College of Law
Cleveland State University
 These
slides are to be used in conjunction
with the teaching module.
 The professor should modify them as
appropriate to conform with his or her
teaching objectives.
 This
information contained in the unit is
appropriate for use in a survey public health
course or seminar and a survey public health
law course or seminar.
 This information may also be appropriate for
use in a survey health law course.
 The
purpose of this unit is two-fold.
 The first objective is to provide law students
with an overview of the role that law plays in
keeping the population healthy.
 The second objective is to give law students
the opportunity to apply the knowledge that
they have acquired to a “real world”
situation.
 To make the project more effective the
students should be divided into public health
law departments at the beginning of the
course.
 Professors
should use the information
contained in this module at the beginning of
the course to help the student gain an
understanding of the type of work in which
public health lawyers engage.
 The project should be used after the
professor introduces the students to
emergency management plans. The
professor should modify the project to
reflect the type of disasters that are
appropriate to the region.
“Public health law is primarily concerned with
the government’s powers and duties to assure
conditions under which populations will be as
healthy as possible; it might reasonably be
considered the body of law that creates a
citizen’s “right” to exist in a healthy
environment.”
 “is
what we, as a society, do collectively to
assure the conditions for people to be
healthy.”
Institute of Medicine, The Future of Public
Health 19 (1988)
 Suffocation
associated with co-sleeping.
 Suffocation due to infants being trapped
or wedged between the mattress and
another object.
 Suffocation due to airway constriction
when a baby is face down on a waterbed.
 Strangulation in rails or openings on beds
that allow a baby’s body to pass through
while entrapping the head.
 Training
parents
 Billboard campaigns
 Video campaigns
 UNDERSTAND
POTENTIAL THREATS TO PUBLIC
HEALTH
 IDENTIFY A POLICY FOR ELIMINATING OR
REDUCING THE THREAT
 IMPLEMENT THE POLICY
 EVALUATE THE POLICY’S OUTCOMES
 DEFINES
THE JURISDICTION OF PUBLC HEALTH
OFFICIALS AND SPECIFIES THE MANNER IN
WHICH THEY MAY EXERCISE THEIR
AUTHORITY.
 Is
the study of legal powers and duties of the
state to assure the conditions for people to
be healthy and the limitations on the power
of the state to constrain the autonomy,
privacy, liberty, proprietary, or other legally
protected interests of individuals for the
protection or promotion of community
health.
Gostin, Public Health Law: Power, Duty,
Restraint 4 (2000).
 “….the
state may invest local bodies called
into existence for purposes of local
administration with authority in some
appropriate way to safeguard the public
health and public safety.” Jacobson v.
Commonwealth of Massachusetts, 197 U.S. 11
(1905)(upholding a law mandating small pox
vaccinations)
 Must
be necessary to prevent an avoidable
threat to the public health
 Must be a reasonable relationship between
the intervention and the achievement of a
legitimate public health goal
 The human burden caused by the
intervention must be proportionate to the
expected benefit
 The
intervention must not pose a health risk
to the public
Gostin, Public Health Law: Power, Duty,
Restraint 68-69 (2000).
 Mandatory
HPV vaccinations for girls and
boys
 Screening for HIV in pregnant women and
newborn babies
 Mandatory isolation and quarantine to
prevent the spread of communicable diseases
 Medical
Battery-the right to be free of
offensive touching (vaccinations)
 First Amendment-religious objections
(vaccinations)
 Lack of informed consent (vaccinations)
 Fourth amendment illegal search and seizure
(HIV screening)
 Violation
of the right to privacy (HIV
screening)
 Equal protection (HIV screening)
 14th Amendment deprivation of liberty
without due process (quarantine)
 Banning
the sale of guns in high crime areas
 Banning guns from public buildings
 Mandatory reporting of bullying by school
personnel
 Anti-cyberbullying laws
 Second
Amendment (gun bans)
 First Amendment (anti-bullying)
 Banning
trans fat in restaurants
 Requiring schools to report students’ BMIs
 Banning tobacco ads
 Prohibiting tobacco use in public buildings
 5th
Amendment Takings (trans fat ban)
 State Preemption (trans fat ban)
 Right to Privacy (BMI reporting)
 14th Amendment Equal Protection (BMI
reporting)
 First Amendment (banning tobacco ads)
 Federal Preemption (banning tobacco ads)
Emergency Management Plan
 Your
students are members of the city’s
public health department. The National
Weather Service has predicted that a natural
disaster will hit your city in approximately 72
hours. Have the students prepare an
emergency management plan.
Population size
 % of people under 18 and over 65
 % of people classified as disabled
 % of people receiving public benefits
 % of people who work downtown
 % of people who have private transportation
 % of people who are incarcerated or
institutionalized
 Location of most of the population
 Number of hospitals, police precincts, fire
departments, long-term care facilities, airports,
banks, bridges and schools

 Type
of public transportation available
 Distance of nearest major city
 Major highways in and out of the city
 Traffic patterns
 Will
there be mandatory evacuation,
voluntary evacuation or no evacuation?
 How will the public be informed about the
evacuation plan?
 What will happen to people who cannot be
evacuated?
 How will the evacuation plan be enforced?
 What
steps will be taken to mitigate the loss
of life and to reduce property damage?
 How will people without private
transportation be evacuated?
 How
will people who are not successfully
evacuated will be protected?
 How will the city leaders communicate with
the public during the event?
 How will necessary utilities be maintained
during the event?
 How
will the victims be located and taken
care of after the event?
 How will the government prevent looting and
other crimes after the event?
 How will the city leaders communicate with
the public after the event?
 How will the government assess the damage
after the event?
 Have
the students meet as a group to discuss
and critique the emergency preparedness
plan they create.
 Compare the plan the students create to the
one that actually exists in your city.
 Have the director of your local health
department evaluate and give feedback to
the students on the plan they create.
 NOTE-Additional scenarios are included in
the teaching module.